Monday, May 12, 2008

Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks

"There is a famous man called Galton who takes photographs of mad people and then lays the images one on top of the other. He is trying to show that all murderers have the same shaped head, or that if you have a long jaw you are likely to be melancholic."

"And that is not what you do?"

"No. I do just the opposite. I use them to make patients look like less of a type and more of an individual. When I see them in their wards, I see a sort of undifferentiated mass. But when I take a picture, I see each man and woman. And each one is in fact a human with a story. In some ways the insanity is the least important thing about them. In a photograph they are still complete, so one is not tempted to see them so much as something broken."

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My Favorite Book Quotes

This blog is a list of quotes from books I have read. We have all had the experience of reading a book and coming across a sentence or paragraph that resonates. The quotes on this blog are the ones that stayed with me. I have listed the author and title along with the quote.